Monsters Dropped Loot

He had not expected anyone in the stronghold to still be alive.

Constable Chen instinctively drew his saber and held it across his body, stepping in front of Gao Yunyi to shield him.

Seeing their chief move, the constables and yamen runners behind him drew their sabers in turn, bracing themselves as if facing a formidable enemy.

The bushy-bearded leader had already been trembling as he came out with his hostage. Now he shuddered so violently in fright that he nearly lost his grip on the saber he held across her throat.

"Nobody move! Get back, or I'll kill her!"

The bushy-bearded leader bellowed, his face twisted with menace and his eyes blazing with the ferocity of a cornered beast still fighting.

He knew full well that the woman in his hands was his last and only trump card for escaping alive.

The newcomers were officers of the yamen; they would not disregard the safety of the people.

As for the terrifying young man before him, if he really was an immortal, he probably would not casually take the life of an innocent mortal either.

After all, storytellers always said that immortals believed in karmic retribution and could not kill the innocent indiscriminately.

At that moment, the bushy-bearded leader was immensely glad that he had kept the woman alive instead of killing her. Otherwise, there really would have been no escape for him tonight.

Hearing the bandit leader's words, Constable Chen's eyes flickered with hesitation and conflict.

Wiping out the bandits would be a great merit, but harming an innocent hostage would be a fault. Moreover, judging by the woman's clothes and appearance, she was clearly not a woman from an ordinary household.

If he ended up earning no merit and being convicted of a crime instead, he would be in trouble.

The caution Constable Chen had cultivated over many years kept him from making any rash moves.

"Exalted Immortal, the bandit chief has a hostage. What should we do now?" Constable Chen turned and asked Gao Yunyi in a low voice.

Though he was the chief of these dozen or so constables and yamen runners, the only one who could truly make the decision here was the immortal behind him.

"Put your sabers away."

Gao Yunyi spoke as calmly as ever.

Hearing this,

Constable Chen breathed a sigh of relief and immediately slid his saber back into its sheath.

Immortals really are kindhearted. He must be doing this because he can't bear to see the hostage harmed.

Seeing this, the constables and yamen runners all followed suit and put away their sabers.

At the sight,

the bushy-bearded leader was overjoyed, and some of the ferocity in his eyes faded.

His gamble had paid off.

These officers really did not dare disregard the hostage's life.

This so-called immortal was also afraid of harming an innocent mortal and bringing karma down on himself.

Hahaha...

What a fucking immortal. He's making way for me just the same.

I can finally escape.

As long as I get out alive, I'll definitely rise again someday.

But I can't stay in this region anymore. I'll have to find somewhere else to be king of the mountain.

The shadow Gao Yunyi had cast over his heart was simply too great. It was so great that he had no thought of revenge whatsoever; he only wanted to flee far away and never return to this region.

"Get back! All of you, get back! Clear a path, quickly, or I'll butcher this woman!"

The bushy-bearded leader roared, fierce on the outside but weak within. In his grasp, the captive woman was like a delicate little flower, powerless to resist as he handled her.

"All right, all right, we'll move back right away. Please don't hurt her."

As Constable Chen made his nervous promise, he and the other constables and yamen runners retreated to the sides, leaving the bandit chief a path straight to the outside.

The bushy-bearded leader forced down the wild joy in his heart and slowly descended the steps with the woman in his grasp.

But the joy on his face soon vanished. He had noticed that the young man glowing all over had not moved. He still stood where he was, like a human lantern, showing no intention of making way.

"Why aren't you moving? Get out of the way, or I'll butcher her right now!"

The bushy-bearded leader panicked, pressing the blade hard against the woman's throat. Crimson blood seeped onto its sharp edge.

He screamed and roared, but the terror and panic in his eyes were hard to conceal.

Yet Gao Yunyi remained standing where he was. His gaze was cold as water as he looked at the man, as if he were looking at a corpse.

That look, as though he were already dead, scared the soul out of the bushy-bearded leader. Fear surged wildly through him like a tide, and even his breathing was burdened by a crushing pressure, as if a mountain were bearing down on him.

"I'm not joking! I really will kill her! I'm begging you, I don't want to die! As long as you let me go, I promise I'll never be a bandit again!"

The bushy-bearded leader was so frantic he was nearly in tears. The fear filling his heart ravaged and gnawed at him.

At last,

Gao Yunyi moved.

But instead of stepping back and making way, he gave his sleeve a light wave.

The gesture was as casual and graceful as if he were about to take up a brush, splash ink across paper, compose a poem, and paint a picture. His serene, otherworldly bearing captivated everyone.

But when that streak of white Sword Qi appeared, followed by a sharp murderous intent, the beautiful image in everyone's eyes shattered to pieces.

With a thud,

a head fell.

It was the bushy-bearded leader's head, its wide-open eyes full of fear and unwillingness to accept his fate.

The woman also collapsed to the ground, but the head on her neck was completely unharmed.

[Experience +10.]

Gao Yunyi's ever-unchanging expression finally shifted. The corners of his mouth rose slightly in a faint, satisfied smile.

A leader really was a leader,

worth more experience than an ordinary quest monster.

He had acted so decisively without the slightest hesitation not because he cared nothing for the hostage's safety.

It was simply because his basic attack targeted a single enemy, hitting only one target each time.

Moreover, his basic attack was a lock-on skill. Once he locked onto a target, it was guaranteed to hit unless the target quickly ran out of his skill's range or triggered the dodge chance.

He was not one of those demonic cultivators who slaughtered the innocent indiscriminately. His Azure Profound Sect was a thoroughly upright sect of the righteous path.

Besides, now that he was in this unfamiliar ancient world, there was surely nothing wrong with setting himself a moral bottom line.

His moral bottom line could be low, but he had to have one.

Otherwise, he really feared he would become the kind of fiend who regarded human lives as grass and was addicted to killing.

After he had killed all the bandits, not only did the quest panel show that the quest was complete, but the experience in his experience bar had also risen by a considerable amount.

As long as he found Magistrate Zhang and turned in the quest, he would be able to reach level 11.

And what delighted Gao Yunyi most was that his Character Inventory was no longer empty. Quite a few things had appeared in it.

They were all materials and blueprints for crafting equipment in the game.

So monsters dropped items in this world too. He simply did not need to pick them up; the system sent them directly to his Character Inventory.

The discovery was a genuine, unexpected delight for Gao Yunyi. He could hardly wait to find a quiet place, sort the items and blueprints, and then craft his first piece of equipment in this world.

"Smack..."

But just as Gao Yunyi was immersed in his joy, the crisp sound of a slap suddenly rang out beside his ear.